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Hunting Licenses / West Virginia

West Virginia Hunting License Cost: $19 and Up

West Virginia prints the tags on the licence rather than selling them separately

$19
Resident licence
Hunting and Trapping (Class A)
Nothing
What the tags add
one of 11 states printing the tags on the licence
to 31 December
When it stops working
calendar year
8 / 9
Licences and tags read here
each one linked to the fee table it came from
The short answer

What a season in West Virginia actually costs to start

Tags includedWest Virginia Division of Natural Resources

A resident hunting licence in West Virginia is $19, sold as the Hunting and Trapping (Class A). West Virginia is one of eleven in this reading where the tags come with the licence rather than on top of it, which makes the price on the fee page the price of the hunt. 39 of the 50 states are built the other way, and in those the licence is the smaller half. A West Virginia resident needs the $19 Class A hunting and trapping licence plus the $5 Conservation Stamp to hunt firearms deer and small game, and a $10 Big Game Stamp on top before archery deer, turkey, bear or boar, while a nonresident pays $119 plus a $13 stamp; every one of them expires on 31 December whatever month it was bought.

  • Resident licence $19, the Hunting and Trapping (Class A)
  • Nonresident licence $119
  • First deer on top of it $10, the Resident Big Game Stamp (Class BG)
  • The licence runs runs a hunting licence to 31 December whatever month it was bought in
  • Hunter education required of anyone born on or after 1975

West Virginia Division of Natural Resources sells it through its own licensing system, which is where a fee change appears first.

What the agency sells

Every West Virginia hunting licence, at the price West Virginia Division of Natural Resources prints

Everything a West Virginia licence holder needs for the species it names is in the licence itself. That is unusual: 39 of the 50 states read here sell the animal separately from the right to hunt it, and Alabama, Arkansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont and West Virginia do not.

  • Hunting and Trapping (Class A)$19

    firearms deer and small game hunting and trapping; the $5 Conservation Stamp is required with it and the $10 Big Game Stamp is needed before archery deer, bear, turkey or boar

    calendar year

    Hunting and Trapping (Class A):.....................................................$19
    West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
  • Statewide Hunting /Trapping License (Class E)$119

    statewide hunting and trapping; the $13 Conservation/Law Enforcement Stamp is required with it and deer archery, muzzleloader, turkey and bear each need a further stamp or licence

    calendar year

    Statewide Hunting /Trapping License (Class E):..................$119
    West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
  • Small Game Hunting License (Class H)$27

    six consecutive days of small game hunting only, with the Conservation/Law Enforcement Stamp

    Six consecutive days

    Small Game Hunting License (Class H):...................................... $27 Six consecutive days. Must have CS/LE stamp.
    West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
  • Junior Sportsman Hunting/Fishing/Trapping (Class XJ)$16

    hunting, fishing and trapping for a resident aged 15 through 17

    calendar year

    Junior Sportsman Hunting/Fishing/Trapping (Class XJ):....$16 Similar to Class X, but for ages 15 through 17
    West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
  • Senior Hunting/Trapping/Fishing License (Class XS)$25

    hunting, trapping and fishing for a resident aged 65 or over, with the bear damage and trout stamps built in

    calendar year

    Senior Hunting/Trapping/Fishing License (Class XS):. ......$25 Required for resident hunters and anglers 65 or older who reached that age on or after Jan. 1, 2012 (those born on or after Jan. 1, 1947)
    West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
  • Sportsman Hunting/Fishing/Trapping (Class X)$35

    hunting, fishing and trapping for a resident aged 18 through 64, with the Conservation Stamp and Big Game Stamp built in

    calendar year

    Sportsman Hunting/Fishing/Trapping (Class X):.................. $35 For ages 18 through 64. Includes privileges of Conservation Stamp, Class A, B and BG licenses
    West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
  • Apprentice Hunting and Trapping License (Class AH)$19

    the same hunting and trapping as Class A, without a hunter education certificate, while supervised

    calendar year

    Apprentice Hunting and Trapping License (Class AH):.......$19 Same privileges as Class A, but completion of hunter safety course not required (see page 4)
    West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
  • Combination Hunting, Trapping and Fishing (Class AB-L)$805

    hunting, trapping and fishing for life, with the Big Game Stamp and Conservation Stamp not required on top

    lifetime

    Combination Hunting, Trapping and Fishing (Class AB-L):...................................................................................$805
    West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
The second purchase

The tags West Virginia covers, and the few it still prices separately

A tag is attached to one animal of one species, and the last column is the part that decides a calendar rather than a budget. Over the counter means it can be bought on the way to the woods. A draw means the application closed months ago.

Nothing in the West Virginia fee pages read here is allocated by a draw, so the tags below are bought rather than applied for. 35 of the 50 states run a draw for at least one species, which puts the decision months ahead of the hunt.

Tags and permits read off West Virginia Division of Natural Resources's own fee pages, dearest resident price first.
Tag or permitSpeciesResidentNonresidentHow it is issued
Additional Firearms Deer Hunting Stamp (Class RG)Deer$21$43Over the counter
Bear Damage Stamp (Class DS)Bear$10$10Over the counter
Resident Big Game Stamp (Class BG)Deer$10None printedOver the counter
Antlerless Deer Hunting Stamp (Class N)Deer$10$27Over the counter
Conservation Stamp(Class CS)Other$5$13Over the counter
Bear Hunting License (Class EE)BearNone printed$162Over the counter
Archery Deer Hunting Stamp (Class UU)DeerNone printed$32Over the counter
Turkey Hunting Stamp (Class WW)TurkeyNone printed$32Over the counter
Migratory Bird Harvest Information Program (HIP)WaterfowlFREEFREEOver the counter

West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, the page this was read from, read 23 September 2026

The clock

When a West Virginia hunting license expires Calendar year

West Virginia runs a hunting licence to 31 December whatever month it was bought in. A licence bought in November is a licence with weeks left in it. The price is the same one printed beside the licence bought in January. 9 of the 50 states read here do this, against 9 that run a licence a full year from the day of sale, and the price is identical in both.

Every West Virginia hunting licence runs to the end of the calendar year whatever month it was bought in, so one bought in November is good for weeks rather than a year.

Hunting, trapping and fishing Licenses are good for the calendar year. You must purchase new licenses at the beginning of each year.
West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
The requirement people find out about at the counter

West Virginia hunter education: born on or after 1975

West Virginia hangs hunter education on a birth date rather than on an age: the requirement reaches anybody born after 1975. Every state that publishes a cutoff publishes a different one, and across this reading they run from 1949 to 1986, which is why a national answer to this question is always wrong somewhere.

Anyone born on or after January 1, 1975 must show a hunter education certificate before a base hunting licence is issued, unless they buy an apprentice licence instead and hunt supervised.

No base hunting license may be issued to a person born on or after January 1, 1975, (exemption – see Apprentice Hunting and Trapping Licenses information on previous page) unless the person presents to the license agent: a certificate of satisfactory completion of a Hunter Education Course approved by the Hunter Education Association or the Director, or the previous year's resident or nonresident West Virginia hunting license bearing certification, or attests to certification when purchasing a license online.
West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
A wide shallow wetland on a clear November morning, ducks scattered across the open water, a cottonwood in yellow leaf on a small island beside a low wooden viewing deck, and a flat brown horizon under a pale blue sky
Waterfowl is the clearest case of what these pages are about. The state licence is the first line on the receipt, and a duck morning adds a state stamp, a federal stamp and a harvest survey registration on top of it, none of which the licence price includes. “Llano Seco Unit (2024)-L1006548”, Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 4.0
Which price applies

Who counts as a West Virginia resident

West Virginia draws the resident line at 30 days, and the difference between the two sides of it is $19 against $119. The statutory definition is quoted below.

Resident: a person who has been a domiciled resident continuously in West Virginia for 30 consecutive days or more immediately prior to the date of application for a license or permit.
West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
How West Virginia compares

39 of 50 states sell the animal separately from the right to hunt it

West Virginia is one of 11 states in this reading that print the tags on the licence, which is why its fee page price is the price of the hunt. In the other 39, the licence is the first of two purchases and the number a search result shows is the smaller half.

Resident licences across these states run from $10 to $64.54, and nonresident licences from $50 to $410, which is the widest spread on any licence this site has read. 25 states run a licence year of their own, 9 give a full year from the day of sale, and 9 end it on 31 December whatever month it was bought.

The national table puts West Virginia beside every other state on licence price, first tag, and the two added together.

West Virginia hunting license questions

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Hunting licenses in every state

West Virginia Division of Natural Resources read 23 September 2026, with every licence price, tag price, expiry rule and hunter education cutoff above linked to the page it came from. Fees are set by statute or by a commission and change between seasons, so the agency page beside each figure is what governs on the day. Tags included